The following is my article that appeared in the August addition of Hydrogen Tech World.
We all have seen the pictures of a Tesla charging on the side of the road with a small, gas-powered generator. It illustrates the inherent challenges of EV charging and completely defeats the environmental mission, not to mention that it creates fodder for the anti-EV crowd. This happens because the battery did not have sufficient stored energy to reach the next charging station. What if the charging station doesn’t have the power?
This dilemma is unfolding globally as companies endeavor to transition to electric fleets, whether in the form of trucks, buses, or delivery vans. The primary challenge lies not in installing EV chargers, but in getting the commercial utility service to the deployment site. In some cases, utilities are quoting timelines of three or four YEARS before they can provide the necessary power capacity. Additionally, the cost to install the distribution equipment can be exorbitant and typically falls on the shoulders of the customer.
We see the same scenario at municipalities attempting to roll out electric busses. For buses, chargers must be positioned at the main depot and strategically deployed around the routes, so the buses can opportunity charge at points during the day. Without robust commercial interconnect to the grid, the chargers cannot be installed, rendering the buses inoperable.
For small fleets, a battery energy storage system (BESS) may be an answer. Companies like Pixii in Norway design systems that store renewable energy generated onsite during the day to charge vehicles at night. Systems like this are usually limited to only a few vehicles, so what do companies do if they have larger fleets?
Hydrogen may be the answer, but not in the way that you may think. Yes, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are the superior choice for some heavy duty or high use applications. However, due to the distance traveled and daily workload, a battery electric vehicle is the better choice for many others.
How can hydrogen assist in the charging dilemma? Stationary power fuel cells can provide the electricity required to charge the EV fleet until the utilities can supply the required commercial AC power. It is expensive; creating hydrogen with an electrolyzer and then converting it back to electricity with a fuel cell requires four times the energy as charging the EV directly from the grid. However, few low-carbon emitting options exist if the grid will not arrive for years. The customer must use dirty diesel generators or park the vehicles until the power equipment can be installed. In many cases, this makes hydrogen fuel cells an attractive option.
Consider a scenario where a company opts to convert its fleet of delivery vans to battery electric for daily routes. Ideally, these vans return to a distribution center every day, where they recharge overnight and are ready for the next day. That is the way the process is designed, but it does not always work out that way.
The utility timeline may put the project at risk. The issue could be an inadequate distribution network. The lines may not have enough capacity to deliver the required power to the site, or new transformers and substations may need to be installed. Renewable energy requirements also add a level of complexity. The cost to expedite infrastructure improvements often makes the financials untenable. Many customers end up delaying or cancelling projects because of these obstacles.
GM, Plug Power, and GeoPura all have announced products to address this issue, allowing for fleets of vehicles to convert to electric. The systems range in size from <100kW to several MWs and can accommodate over 200 vehicles. The vehicle capacity and charging speed varies depending on the output, from level 2 charging up to 250 kW DCFC.
Amazon encountered such challenges during the rollout of its Rivian delivery vans. Amazon made big news when it ordered 100,000 Rivian delivery vans. So far, 13,500 have been delivered, some in Germany but the majority scattered across the US. At some locations, the local utility cannot install the infrastructure required to supply the power needed to charge the vans in an acceptable time frame. To circumvent the delays, Amazon worked with Plug Power to deploy a 2 MW PEM fuel cell at a site in Tennessee for charging over 200 delivery vans, allowing Amazon to convert to battery electric vans, which will use level 2 chargers that allow for a full overnight charge.
General Motors inadvertently entered this market with its stationary PEM fuel cell, designed initially for commercial and emergency back-up power applications. They found unexpected demand for EV charging where utility power is unavailable. The GM Hydrotec Powercube can charge at 100 kW of peak power and 77 kW at steady state. The hydrogen is supplied in a tubetrailer at 7000 psi with enough hydrogen to supply 3500 kWH of energy.
MotorTrend was so taken by the technology that they used the GM Hydrotec Powercube to charge electric and plug-in hybrid SUVs during evaluations at the 2023 SUV of the Year Competition in the remote California desert, where no commercial power is available.
GeoPura in the United Kingdom, known for hydrogen fuel cell generators initially developed for the film industry, also pivoted towards EV charging solutions. GeoPura installed hydrogen powered EV chargers at a Cairn Lodge Services in Lanark. The site will run six hydrogen EV chargers for retail use until a suitable electrical grid connection is established.
The British military also is interested in GeoPura’s solution to provide redundancy and robustness to their energy infrastructure. They installed an EV charging system last December in the Davenport Naval Base, which will act as a proof of concept for off-grid charging. The hope is that it can grow to include power generation and marine vessel support.
Using stationary fuel cells to charge EVs is not a long-term solution. It only provides an option for temporary or emergency power needs. A justification also can be made if the project must move forward and the timeline for utility power installation is unacceptable. For these locations, hydrogen can act as a bridge to power a fleet until the utility provides a permanent connection.
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